Everything you need to know about Google Assistant

Google Assistant is Google’s voice-controlled smart assistant. It’s was originally an upgrade or extension of Google Now – designed to be personal – while expanding on Google’s existing “OK Google” voice controls.

Originally, Google Now smartly pulled out relevant information for you: it knew where you work, and it knew your meeting locations and travel plans, the sports teams you liked, and what interested you so that Now could present you with personal information that mattered. Google has long killed the Google Now brand, but Assistant very much lives in the same space, but fuses these personalised elements with a wide-range of voice control.

The “OK Google” or “Hey, Google” side covers voice commands, voice searching, and voice-activated device control, letting you do things like send messages, check appointments and so on on your Android device, just like Apple’s Siri on an iPhone or iPad, but reaching far beyond that, with a bot-centric Artificial Intelligence experience, designed to give you conversational interactions.

Continued Conversation means you don’t have to say “Hey Google” for follow-up requests. Google Assistant will also work out when you’re talking to it versus other people in the room. Multiple Actions is also a new capability that enables you to ask for multiple things at the same time. This, according to Google, is rather difficult – in linguistics it is called coordination reduction. Mastering requests like this is probably what will power Google Assistant ahead of rivals.

Google first unveiled Assistant at Google I/O in May 2016, launched it on the Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones, brought it to Google Home and then Wear OS, before it started it rolling it out to other phones running Android. Two years on from Google Assistant’s launch, Google has spread Assistant far and wide, not only on Google’s own hardware, but through partnerships with other companies. LG’s G7 ThinQ even has a dedicated Google Assistant button. So far, Google Assistant is accessible to over 5000 devices ranging from fridges to headphones and cars.

Also, a new Pretty Please mode for Google Assistant will help ensure everyone in your household is saying “please” and “thank you”. When enabled, it responds positively when you say either of those phrases. Pretty Please can be enabled for specific members of your household, so you can encourage your kids to be polite, or you can just play a trick on your spouse as they’re setting a timer for dinner without their manner.

Because Google Assistant knows you and understands context, it can react in an informed or smart way. That’s important as Assistant spreads its wings, because it gives voice control a lot more power and moves it on from only reacting to specific phrases or commands. Google has said that six new voice choices coming to Google Assistant during 2018. One of the voices is singer-songwriter John Legend. In the future, Google even says that Assistant will be able to call and book appointments for you.